Giving raids bite

Make a suggestion & let the community sound it out. Almost all the best activities in game came initially from a player suggestion!
User avatar
Jager 602
CE Official Supporter
Posts: 275
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 1:41 am

Giving raids bite

Post by Jager 602 »

Right now, it seems that raids show up and simply get bigger and bigger until a group decides to take one down. What if raids affected the systems they were in? Once they got to a certain size, maybe Ashar offices would close down or players could not make Ashar runs into the system. Once they were bigger maybe wesbec runs would be affected. Once they were big enough perhaps players could not navigate to certain places in the system, perhaps even enter the system without having to attack the raid or retreat. Perhaps have it be something like the expanse survey screen that keeps us from seeing the system until we have surveyed enough, except with the raid in mind.
A plaque on both your horses.
User avatar
saint
Posts: 28
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2016 11:52 am

Re: Giving raids bite

Post by saint »

I like this idea.

I've always thought that if raids somehow impacted a system then it would create a lot more incentive to clear them.
User avatar
MarcSp
Posts: 806
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2014 4:44 am
Location: Lake Zurich, Illinois, USA

Re: Giving raids bite

Post by MarcSp »

Its been proposed before, and turned down before, mostly due to the disparate impact on a few
players who would then be unable to clear the RAID by themselves.
As proposed, there is not enough incentive for the majority of players to care about clearing the raid.
Witness the dismal performance during the last Coops Challenge. Raids are a niche area for a small percentage of players.
User avatar
Coops
Site Admin
Posts: 5446
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:10 pm
Location: Basingstoke - UK
Contact:

Re: Giving raids bite

Post by Coops »

I suppose it s a little chicken and egg - without 'issues' raised by a RAID there is no 'reason' to Clear RAIDS.

For anything like this to work it would have to be very carefully balanced. Plus integrating a change like this (as simple as it may seem on the surface) is far from the truth.

Simple things like what happens to players who already have cargo & combat missions, plus NPC missions etc already taken and in their logs and holds. I can think of about 10 issues off the top of my head that would occur and need a fix.

THAT SAID : It's worth a discussion if it meant that RAIDS actually were more than target practise.

Side Dev Note: One fo the issues we faced when adding RAIDS was that we have some (we shall call them) 'dedicated' captains out there who took it upon themselves to see how far they could go to solo RAID running. Thus raids had to be made harder / stronger/ heal quicker.

To counter balance this a while back we made the RAIDS use selective targeting (damage where damage is due) and also reset damage counters if a RAID fully regens. This last one is probably what stopped dead in its track the RAID hunters. I'm happy to re-balance RAIDS but as it stands atm they do as they fight and reward those as intended. Brining in a 'real world' affect would be challenging but not impossible.

Coops
A Walk in the Woods helps me relax and release the tension from a hard day at the code.
The fact that I'm dragging a body behind me should be irrelevant!
User avatar
Jager 602
CE Official Supporter
Posts: 275
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 1:41 am

Re: Giving raids bite

Post by Jager 602 »

This actually came to me because of the challenge. I was just brainstorming ways to incentivize taking them down more regularly. Another idea I had was to give a chance to find miscellaneous loot- rolfs, lscs and all the rest- or rarer resources(perhaps base the chance on one of the training certifications) either during the fighting, after, or maybe both. Maybe we can come up with some more that'll work :)
A plaque on both your horses.
User avatar
Coops
Site Admin
Posts: 5446
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:10 pm
Location: Basingstoke - UK
Contact:

Re: Giving raids bite

Post by Coops »

I'm happy to look into 'options' so please feel free top mull them over and voice your opinions :) I promise not to bark at anyone for a change ;)

Coops
A Walk in the Woods helps me relax and release the tension from a hard day at the code.
The fact that I'm dragging a body behind me should be irrelevant!
User avatar
Gorkus
Posts: 96
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:31 pm

Re: Giving raids bite

Post by Gorkus »

I really enjoyed the 1 ½ raids I went on during the last challenge. I would like to do them more often. If it is harder to punish players equally for not taking them on, then perhaps rewarding those who do might be the way to go. The concept of awarding *cough* ROLFs, etc. for completion does sound appealing to me. It seems to me the biggest stumbling block is that 80% or so of players don't use chat, so it becomes that much more difficult to organize a raid given the pool of players online at any given time. Perhaps a mass in-game email with a weekly raid schedule can be made to attract these silent players. Maybe after taco Tuesday we could have raid Wednesday, with a raid scheduled once every 8 hours over a 24 hour period - to facilitate players in all time zones to participate. Maybe you could institute an entry fee and a reward system based on the amount paid by the player, kind of like a little side bet, but with credits or *cough* ROLFs. But if you have your heart set on punishing players for not taking on raids, then perhaps an intergalactic tax can be levied on all professions that slowly increases until the raid is taken down. Perhaps uncleared raids allow pirates easier access to player holds and cargo items might disappear. :)
User avatar
MarcSp
Posts: 806
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2014 4:44 am
Location: Lake Zurich, Illinois, USA

Re: Giving raids bite

Post by MarcSp »

Raids were always intended to be an "adjunct" for career combat pilots, not really something
miners/haulers would be doing on any regular basis. Plus it was always an opt-in type of thing,
never mandatory. Not everyone is here for the combat.
So going for better rewards seems preferable to punishing non-participants.

I like Jager's idea of adding misc loot - perhaps every 10-15 shots you take in combat, theres a chance for a random loot
to be delivered:
Your shot hits a energy node for 600 damage, causing debris to spray everywhere. Your AI reports it was able to
tractor in a - ROLF02 - which was deposited in your cargo hold.
Even adding in a booster effect from some certifications would be nice (targetting/weapons skills) either thru
increasing chances of loot or reducing number of shots taken to trigger a loot drop.
OR

Perhaps a new type of weapon/thingee for that second weapon slot. Instead of causing damage to the RAID, it
gives you a 10/25/33 % chance of tractoring in some random misc loot. Of course, while you are busy tractoring in
loot, the raid gets a free shot at you for full damage. Kind of like firing off a combat probe DURING combat
rather than afterward.
pikolinianita
Posts: 862
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2014 6:36 pm
Location: Quantum Chicken Caravanserai, Umbari, Sphere

Re: Giving raids bite

Post by pikolinianita »

I see few problems with RAIDs
  1. Time - not all players can be "here" "now"
  2. Knowledge - Not all players use forums / chat on regular basis
  3. Motivation - Poor reward for kill
  4. (for challenges) Salvage - slow, Need IP in "Energy Weapons" and with poor rewards
Ad 1. Change need a large changes with Mechanic, but: If player damage RAID
  • Other players gets +3% to damage for 24h
  • for 24h player is entitled to XP/item reward (now (s)he is removed from list once RAID regens to full health)
So player can help, even when (s)he cannot participate

Ad 2. well... some countdown in news would help... Let's introduce "Raid Token" (RT):
  • Players who kills at least one raid get one RT
  • When player is in system with RAID (s)he can spend RT
  • Player enter date and time (between now and one week)
  • There is message in news, every hour or so "on [time][date] Raid in [place] will be attacked", or something like that
  • messages could be every 5 min for last hour or so
  • player who kill raid (and perhaps some participants) gets token (level requirements? or Raid kills? We don't want all greenhorns activate RT all time)
  • Limit for 1 Raid attack per day, or 7 per week, or like that
Something that everyone can see, but I don't want to see too many "kill Raid" ads...

Ad 3.
  • valuable MISC? ROLFs loot would attract Newbies, maybe UA would attract seniors? diluted with Space Debris for fun :)
  • "buddy-like" event for every few hits - resources which goes into buddy stash
  • increased cost for docking planet in RAID system (increased security)
  • Mobile RAIDs - Raids tends to move into systems with more players, once per week RAID have 50% chance to move. 80% that it is going towards place with more players /20% for random movement
Ad 4. Levels in salvage, with interesting resources later (combat? those required for SMR?), and higher chance for MISC, faster disintegration
User avatar
Coops
Site Admin
Posts: 5446
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:10 pm
Location: Basingstoke - UK
Contact:

Re: Giving raids bite

Post by Coops »

Some interesting ideas there @Piko
A Walk in the Woods helps me relax and release the tension from a hard day at the code.
The fact that I'm dragging a body behind me should be irrelevant!
Post Reply